Wrestling: Cherokee's Lemerise no longer a secret

A year ago you could say “Joe Lemerise” to most wrestling fans, and the answer would probably have been “Joe who?”

Now if you mention the Cherokee senior to any fan from this area, you get quite a different answer. It’s usually something like “that’s the guy from the region finals, right?”

Right indeed.

Lemerese was the District 27 champion at 132 pounds last season and the fourth seed at the Region 7 tournament. He earned a berth in the region final with a major decision over Jacob Backal of Eastern, then a pin of Burlington Township’s top-seeded Aaron Lambert in the semifinals.

He lost a 5-4 decision in the final to Trenton’s Maaziah Bethea in what may have been the single most exciting bout of the season. It went to a third-overtime tiebreaker and drew a thunderous standing ovation from the crowd at Robbinsville High School.

Now Lemerise is out to build on his successful junior season — in a number of ways.

“Last year I guess I had something to prove,” Lemerise said, after three pins in a quadrangular meet on Saturday raised his record to 7-0. “This year, I guess I’m just trying to do the best I can. As far as the difference, it was definitely that I was unknown; now, this year, people are moving up and around me. They have to wrestle according to where I’m going to come out.”

So far, no one’s been able to navigate that part of the lineup. Sure, you can move your stud wrestler away, but you’re still giving up bonus points once Lemerise gets paired up. He has six pins among his seven bouts and one major decision.

As for what he had to prove last year, it was simple: a broken hip brought an early end to his freshman season. His sophomore year ended with three broken bones in his foot — the result of a bad step as he set up a shot.

This year he wants to be standing on a podium in March. Last season, it was enough just to be standing.

“I’d known him when he was younger. I’d watched him in seventh or eighth grade,” Cherokee coach Mike Booth said. “I knew he was going to be a tough kid. But I didn’t know how dedicated to the sport he was until I started coaching him and saw how hard he worked in the room, and just being a student of wrestling in general.

“I had expectations for him, but I didn’t know. I thought maybe the kid’s fragile or something, But from what I understand, it was a couple of freak injuries that kept him out. He’s been healthy since and I’m glad he’s on my team. He’s been doing a nice job.”

Lemerise went 36-4 as a junior and raised his career record to 52-18. He won the district title and finished second in Region 7.

It was a breakthrough year for him, but the big moments didn’t come in front of a packed house in the Robbinsville gym.

They came in front of a much smaller crowd. Or sometimes none at all.

“I would say after the new year, in the middle of January, at the Moorestown Duals, I realized I had 20 wins, and I’d beaten most of the kids in my district already,” Lemerise said. “I looked around and felt like, yeah, that was kind of a breakthrough.”

The goal, though, was to wrestle a full season. As the season progressed, and it continued to appear more likely, Lemerise started raising his expectations. After the district title, the second breakthrough did come at the regions — but not in the finals.

“The region semifinal,” he said. “That was one of my favorite matches. Making it to states.”

The trip to Atlantic City merely whet his appetite for more success, though.

“I’m just trying to move forward from that now,” Lemerise said. “This year it’s a lot bigger than that. It would probably be a huge disappointment for me if I didn’t place in states.”

To that end, he put the time in between seasons that he’s always put in. Lemerise wrestled at a few clubs in the offseason and set about improving his performance in all three positions, but especially on his feet.

It’s not a question, he says, of being able to shoot or shuck. It’s what to do when those tactics don’t work.

“I’m working different kinds of set-ups and going two moves deep — taking a shot that sets up another shot, and things like that,” Lemerise said. “That’s a big thing. If one move doesn’t work, you have to be able to try something else.”

Lemerise, who wants to study electrical engineering in college, is one of few seniors on the team and a captain, though the latter part isn’t exactly new. He was the only captain last year who wasn’t a senior. But he said it wasn’t really a leadership role. This year, he’s the guy that everyone looks to for leadership, and he’s more than up to the task.

“I’ll tell you what, he’s part of the backbone of our team,” Booth said. “Just a great all-around kid. A very talented wrestler. A very hard worker, both on and off the mat. He’s always doing the right things in practice. He leads by example. He’s not a very vocal kid. He just kind of goes about his business and goes about it the right way. He’s always very dedicated about his weight and what he’s eating. And he does very well in the classroom too.”

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